Britain Defends the Enlightenment

Despite the ongoing schism of the Anglican church, which I wrote about in my last post, I’m happy to see that there’s still plenty of good sense and reason in the U.K. One outstanding example is this story from last month, where the British Medical Association voted to stop funding homeopathy in public hospitals. (UK readers, do you know if is this a binding vote or just advisory?) There’s been some trenchant commentary on the decision, like this column from Ed West:

The most outspoken supporter of the motion, Dr Tom Dolphin, had earlier compared homeopathy to witchcraft, but then apologised to witches on the grounds that this was unfair. Homeopathy, he said, was “pernicious nonsense that feeds into a rising wave of irrationality which threatens to overwhelm the hard-won gains of the Enlightenment and the scientific method”.

Apparently ‘thousands’ of people – including Peter Hain’s son – get better after taking homeopathy. This is absolutely true, but the problem is that most people get better anyway, whether you give them antibiotics, homeopathy, or a slap to the face. Humans tend to be quite good at healing themselves. Once you control for this sort of variable, the outcomes are much clearer…. the more rigorously we test homeopathy, the more it fails.

By way of response, defenders of homeopathy are reduced to reading from a by-now-familiar script:

Apparently… I’m displaying what Dr Le Fanu describes as “Dawkinsite arrogance”, but there’s nothing arrogant about researchers collectively testing ideas and accepting the results. What’s arrogant is to ignore evidence when it doesn’t produce the result you expect. Particularly when that evidence has been accumulating for two centuries – a period of time in which homeopaths apparently haven’t even managed to agree on how much you have to shake the vial.

Yes, that’s right – in two hundred years, homeopaths haven’t gotten around to figuring out how many times a homeopathic remedy has to be “succussed” (i.e., shaken) in the course of dilution to activate its supposed curative powers. Do you really want to take medicine from people who can’t be bothered to perform even the most basic tests on their own ideas? And what does it say about the homeopaths’ level of devotion to scientific rigor that they’ve never even tried to determine this?

And this isn’t the only good news out of England. It seems that Colin Hall, the recently elected mayor of Leicester, is a nonbeliever, and he’s taken some commendable steps toward ending Christian privilege in his town:

Writing in this month’s edition of the Leicester Secularist, the journal of the city’s Secular Society, Cllr Hall, who will serve as Lord Mayor for the 2010-11 municipal year, said: “Contrary to the myths that certain organisations like to promote, the practice of observing prayers at the start of council meetings is a relatively recent one.

“I am delighted to confirm that I will be exercising my discretion as Lord Mayor to abolish the outdated, unnecessary and intrusive practice.

“I personally consider that religion, in whatever shape or form, has no role to play at all in the conduct of council business… This particularly applies in Leicester, where the majority of council members, myself included, do not regularly attend any particular faith service.”

Although Hall’s decision appears to have gone over smoothly with the majority, there was some predictable squawking from pushy Christians who are unhappy that their special rights are being taken away:

A Fellowship Pastor, Ian Jones, said: “I find it deeply sad that anyone would want to suppress the rights of others to pray.

“If someone has a problem with this practice, could they not simply join the meeting once it is over?”

Although the U.K. as a whole is friendly to reason, it seems its pastors suffer from the same disease that’s endemic in America – the belief that they have the right to force their religion on others and that their free speech is being suppressed if they’re denied this. I have a better idea, Pastor Jones: why don’t you do your own praying before the meeting if you want to, and spare everyone else the wasted time of listening to your superstitious mumbling?

This isn’t Mayor Hall’s first action standing up for the rights of nonbelievers. He’s hired the president of the local secular society to serve as the town’s chaplain. When he took office, he also refused to take part in a service at Leicester Cathedral to ceremonially welcome him into his new role. As he wrote on Twitter, “Bear in mind though, I am Lord Mayor for all people of Leicester and not just those from the Church of England.”

Hall’s decision to stand up for secularism and conduct the people’s business without giving special privileges to religion is a wonderful breath of fresh air, and something I wish we’d see more of in America. And for truth’s sake, the U.K.’s current deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, is an atheist! You British people are just out to make us look bad, aren’t you?

Adam Lee of Daylight Atheism

Adam Lee is an atheist writer and speaker living in New York City. He created Daylight Atheism to push back against undeserved privileging of religion and to encourage atheists to step out of their closets, into the daylight, and take our rightful place at the table of society’s discourse.